


In spite of the uneven odds

by Kroolea



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Classic Poe Dameron naming ex-stormtroopers, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Poe is a good person, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, former stormtroopers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:53:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22355956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kroolea/pseuds/Kroolea
Summary: Coaching a terrified child to come out from under a bed was not in any of his plans for after the war but here he was.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	In spite of the uneven odds

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from Sleeping At Lady's song "Uneven Odds" 
> 
> This may be a series of Poe and Finn saving an assortment of kids but I'm not making that promise.

Helping thousands of traumatized people was a lot harder than Poe was expecting. Finn had issues, many, many issues that kept him up at night, Poe knew this. But when the traumatized people in particular are children, it's all the harder. 

This was not how Poe expected life after the war would be like. He was imagining settling down on Yavin IV, getting married, tending to the farm and caring for his father.

Coaching a terrified child to come out from under a bed was not in any of his plans. The boy, who wasn't older than eight, had been rescued that morning along with a small group of others. When a doctor had arrived to check over the children and make sure they were alright, the boy became pale and ran, ending up under this bed.

"C'mon, little guy, what's your name?" Poe sat on the floor nonthreateningly. He didn't look under the bed for fear of scaring the little boy more.

"I don't got a name." The boy finally replied. "My name is JE-5634."

"I can give you a name. If you want." Poe offered, JE-5634 didn't answer, Poe took his silence as a no or at least a not right now.

"My buddy, Finn, would like to talk to you. He was a stormtrooper. Have you ever heard of FN-2187?"

Silence.

"Hey, listen, I know that doctors are kinda scary. But this one's really nice. She just wants to make sure you are alright."

"Doctors are bad, they took JE-1734 away when she had a cough." The boy said hesitantly. Poe closed his eyes and shook his head, angry at what the first order had done to innocent children.

"You don't have to see this one right now, if you're uncomfortable with doctors. Are you hurt anywhere?"

There was more silence until the boy answered with a faint "Yeah."

"Where are you hurt?" Poe's eyebrows furrowed and he frowned.

"My head... I-I think I hit it when we were running from you."

"Do you feel light-headed or nauseated?" Poe asked in concern.

"What does nauseated mean?" The question was asked with so much confusion that it hurt Poe's heart.

"Uh, do you feel like your going to throw up?"

"Oh, no. I did earlier but I think that was because I was scared."

"That's fair. I'm pretty scary." Poe joked, he beamed when a small giggle sounded from under the bed.

"Not of you. Of the other one, he looked really mad."

Right, this kid must have thought Finn was an officer or something that was angry with them.

"Nah, that's just Finn. He was mad but it wasn't at you. I promise." Poe told him.

"I want a name." The boy said quickly, changing the subject. Poe smiled, they were making progress.

"Could you come out from under the bed so I can see your face?" Poe asked.

"Can you please do it without seeing my face?" The boy's tone was close to begging. Poe took a deep breath.

"Of course. Tell me if you don't like a suggestion though. Sometimes I come up with some pretty silly names."

"Yes sir."

"Call me Poe. I'm not old enough to be called sir." Poe said seriously.

"Okay."

"Uh names... How about Jade?"

"Too girly."

"Jeb?"

"No."

"Jed?"

"No way, it's sounds too old."

"Hmm, J, J, J. I got it, what about Jasper?"

"Jasper..." The boy tried it. "I like it!"

"Okay, cool. Jasper it is. Good to meet you, Jasper."

"Good to meet you too, uh Mister um General Poe."

"Just Poe, please. General is too formal for friends."

"Mr. Poe?"

"Fine. If you really want to call me that. It sounds a little silly." Poe teased.

"Poe is a silly name."

"It is not! My parents gave it to me." If he was honest, Poe was a little astounded that Jasper had the guts to tease him so soon.

"It sounds a little silly." Jasper argued, Poe noticed he was slowly moving out from under the bed.

Poe pouted playfully. "What is a better name than Poe?"

"Jasper."

Poe snorted and began to laugh. Soon Jasper was sitting across from him and Poe got a good look at him. His hair was bright red and his face was covered with little bruises and cuts.

"Jasper is a pretty cool name. You know what's really cool?" Poe said, a thought crossing his mind.

"What?" Jasper's eyes were wide and curious.

"Jasper is a stone and the stone is almost the same color as your hair." Poe grinned, proud at himself for coming up with that. Jasper grinned, showing some missing teeth.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Maybe we can get you a jasper stone one of these days. You could wear it like a necklace or keep it in your pocket."

Poe was already going through rocks he had in his old rock collection back on Yavin IV. If he remembered correctly he had a large piece of jasper that his mother had gifted him. His heart twisted as he thought about giving it away.

_Calm down, Poe, it's just a rock_ _. Besides when was the last time you thought about those rocks?_

They talked for a little bit more about other rocks and minerals. They were interrupted by the door swinging opened. Jasper froze like a terrified animal and Poe jumped to his feet.

"Hey, hey, knock before you just open the door like that." He said, he realized it was Finn. "Oh hey, Finn, this is Jasper. He's my new best friend. Right, buddy?" Poe looked at Jasper and smiled. Jasper nodded slowly.

"Yes, sir, I mean Mr. Poe, sorry."

"It's alright. I won't be mad if you call me sir. I just don't prefer it. How about we go see your friends and tell them about your new name?" Poe suggested. Much to his surprise, Jasper nodded and grabbed his hand as they walked down the hall. Finn watched their retreating figures in shock. Poe mumbled something to Jasper that made the litle boy laugh loudly and Finn felt tears sting his eyes.

Jasper, and all the others were going to be fine, maybe not now, but eventually they would be fine.


End file.
